a blog by wallace winfrey

Anybody know how I can get cheap access to a IBM VM/CMS system?

Just for kicks, I’d like to do some programming on a VM/CMS system, build some menu-driven apps that I can access with a 3270 emulator. What’s my best bet for this sort of utterly useless programming experience? Why do I want to do this? Well, let’s just say I’ve got a hankering for the ole MIZZOU1 mainframe. I don’t feel like my life programming experience will be complete until I’ve done a bit of bona-fide mainframe programming.
It doesn’t have to be on a mainframe, mind you. It can be “mainframe-like”. It has to be a descendant of the CMS series though, and I have to access it through a 3270 terminal emulator, because seriously, out of all the terminal emulators, those 3270s they used to have at the Univ of Missouri-Columbia computer labs in the late 80s used to make me think I was living in the world of Logan’s Run or THX 1138 every time I used them.
Obviously, I’m influenced by [this guy](http://lab16.axiosmedia.org/2009/02/programming-your-pdp-11-part-0/).